DEAR MISS MANNERS: What do you make of the practice of old classmates reconnecting only when a major life event is taking place?

A friend and I became acquainted while we were college classmates and maintained a friendship over the years. Seven years ago, things began to take precedence over us keeping in touch when she moved away.

Flash-forward to present day: I got a call from my ex-husband, saying that she had come across his name/profile and wanted his help in passing her contact info along to me.

When we finally connected, she was all chatty — “Girlll, it has been ages since we’ve talked. You are the only one I remembered from the Glee Club!” She then went on to tell me that she wanted to send me a wedding invitation.

Now mind you, she was in my hometown last year, but didn’t feel motivated enough to reach out to me then — until now.

When I was compiling my wedding guest list, I did not feel compelled to reach back and invite people who I had not been in contact with in over 10, 15 years.

Am I getting bent way out of shape? What is the best way to react to this type of overture should it happen again?

I declined the RSVP to her wedding, however.

GENTLE READER: Isn’t half the Internet taken up with people trying to reconnect with their old classmates — or at least trying to discover that they turned out badly?

And isn’t it possible that a similar impulse — well, the nostalgic one, rather than the vindictive one — moves people to include old friends at important events?

As you did not have such feelings, you were right to decline the wedding invitation. Miss Manners is only trying to assuage your cynicism.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What should you do with an engagement ring after a divorce? Should you sell it, keep it, etc.? It was already agreed for the ex-wife to keep the ring and not return it to the ex-husband.

GENTLE READER: There must be some formula for this, weighing a former wife’s feelings about the husband and about the ring. For example, if she hates him but loves it, throwing it in his face, or in the river, would provide short-term satisfaction and long-term regret. In any case, Miss Manners recognizes that the ring is hers, and she gets to decide what to do with it.